2017 in Review

Now that 2018 has begun in earnest, it makes sense to look back at the year that just ended.

Throughout 2017, public markets put a lot of pressure on healthcare systems to stem losses and improve earnings. Industry-wide economic pressures were the drivers of the two major trends in 2017:

hospital divestitures, and

increased internal controls designed to cut staffing costs.

Markets are forcing hospitals to operate more efficiently and squeeze more value out of every dollar spent. Accordingly, more and more hospitals are turning to LocumsMart’s free workflow and vendor management software to help them achieve their goals. LocumsMart had another record year in 2017, as year-over-year growth metrics were up double-digits across the board. In particular:

Time billed on LocumsMart grew by 25 percent

Unique Providers booked on LocumsMart grew by 12 percent

The number of Facilities booking jobs on LocumsMart grew by 10 percent

The number of Vendors booking jobs on LocumsMart grew by 26 percent

Overall demand in the marketplace for locum tenens services continues to be strong. Additionally, we’re seeing movement in the marketplace toward greater degrees of standardization. This naturally lends itself to a software tool like LocumsMart that allows for rules-based decisions and standardized workflow processes using the software. We think that’s the biggest driving factor that drove growth last year.

In addition to the growth of the volume of business tracked on LocumsMart, 2017 was also a significant year for the release of exciting new features on LocumsMart. We introduced many new tools to help our Members track additional data points, and have enhanced control over their workflow processes.

For example, we launched mobile time clocks for physician time-tracking. Physicians can now clock-in and out of their shifts while on assignment —straight from their mobile phones. That information automatically flows through to an electronic timesheet attached to the proper Confirmation Agreement in LocumsMart. The GPS-tracking feature of the LocumsMart mobile time-clock gives Facilities a greater degree of quality assurance, and for many less hours of work than would be necessary to try to verify hours worked via manual processes. Additionally, because LocumsMart now tracks actual hours worked, it is possible for a hospital to blend different rate types (regular, call, overtime, etc.) together to calculate an “effective rate” for an assignment. Facilities can run on-demand reports for hours worked broken down by Facility, Vendor, Specialty, Provider, and other categories. The increased visibility into hours worked provided by LocumsMart is extremely useful for workforce planning and predicting necessary staffing levels and expected costs, all of which ties into our predictions for 2018.

The other major functionality development in 2017 was the release of LocumsMart CRM. The development of the first CRM system specifically designed for temporary provider staffing is a project that has long been in the works at LocumsMart, and it’s something we are very excited about. Currently the software is in its Beta version and being used internally by the LocumsMart Sales and Support Teams. LocumsMart CRM gives Users the ability to use all of the LocumsMart tools they love to track and report on workflow with their outside customers that aren’t themselves LocumsMart Members. If you are interested in checking out LocumMart CRM, and serving as a Beta tester, please email support@locumsmart.net and let us know!

Thanks again to all of our Users for making 2017 LocumsMart’s best year yet. We look forward to growing with you in 2018.

Aaron Paul is co-founder and CEO of LocumsMart. His passion lies in creating new ways to move established workflow processes from the analog to the digital world. To learn more about Aaron and the LocumsMart team, visit our team page here: http://locumsmart.net/team